AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Careful what you wish for,” he said, a little cockier and more candid than I’d like.
“All right, I’m back,” Bree said, letting her hair down from its bun as she walked into the room. “What’d I miss?”
“Have fun,” Alex said, kissing Bree before heading up to the next floor of the mansion.
“God, men,” I rolled my eyes at Bree. “How the fuck did you manage any of this?”
“I see there’s trouble in paradise and so soon,” Bree teased with her dimpled smile. “Come on. Let’s take that ice cream out to the pool area. We don’t need Alex in earshot.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” I said, following Bree into the kitchen and wondering if this would be an informative conversation or one where all I did was bitch about the mess I was in.
“I’ve missed you,” Bree said, sitting on her opulent outdoor sofa surrounding the neatly crafted firepit.
“I’ll never understand how you can look so freaking beautiful in sweats and a tank top. It’s very annoying,” I teased, dipping my spoon into my ice cream.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she said, raising her eyebrow.
“It’s so goddamn relaxing out here,” I said, glancing around at the pool, the waterfalls, the palm trees, and the furniture—you know, everything that one would buy to ensure their outdoor pool area looked like a five-star resort.
“I sat out here today while I worked from the house. It was pretty fucking nice.”
“Yeah, well, you designed it. If you ever get bored, you can always start imagining what you’ll do for my future backyard.”
She took a spoonful of ice cream and slid it into her mouth with a laugh. “And when do I finally get to do this for the new place you always tease me about buying but never do?”
“When hell freezes over, I guess,” I played back.
“Hell has frozen over, my friend. If you hadn’t noticed,” she said, tucking her legs underneath her and reclining against the throw pillows on her right side.
I leaned back and placed my feet on the granite surrounding the rectangular gas firepit in front of me. “How has hell frozen over?” I said, digging into more ice cream.
“Because I recall you always saying that hell would have to freeze over for you to be in a relationship. And not only has it frozen over, but I think it’s in a deep freeze given that you’re not just in a relationship but also seemingly stressed about it.”
“Last I checked, I didn’t come over to have a psychic reading, so relax with analyzing my life and hell freezing over. Let’s keep the crazy talk to a minimum,” I teased.
“Okay, no crazy talk. Let’s get straight to the real talk,” she said, staring me down. “You’re lucky I’ve been buried in work, or I would’ve lost my shit when I discovered that Alex knew more about this than I did. I haven’t heard jack shit from you, and Alex already has the dirt on the relationship.”
“Hold up,” I said. “Just what does Alex know about this?”
“He was at dinner with all the guys, and Spencer came in looking like hell. The men do what they always do when they start in on their sewing circle bullshit. They picked his brain and found out Spencer has a bit of a broken heart.”
“I’ve never known any men who sit around talking about relationships or problems all day like those fools do,” I shook my head. “Aren’t they supposed to only talk about sports and cars or something? You’d think they were all therapists.”
“Well,” Bree laughed, “you know those guys. They think they know everything about something. I think they just like listening to the sound of their own voices.”
I rolled my eyes like I always did when it came to the guys. “Well, at least he got support somewhere. I’ve been a dreadful bitch to him.”
“Alex assumed that too,” she said, then laughed and held her hand up when I flashed her a confused look. “I’m only kidding; you were getting too serious too fast on me. I had to keep you with me. I know how you get when shit goes deep and emotional. You shut down, and I’m not going to allow that.”
“You know me too well. And sadly, that’s all Spencer knows of me these days.”
I took a deep breath and proceeded to tell her everything from Italy to now, starting with me not having slept with anyone else since my first weekend with Spencer, which was shocking in and of itself. Although she looked almost wistful as I told her about our time at Lake Garda, Verona, and London, she was speechless when I detailed my adventures with Heidi.
Bree’s eyes widened when I told her about Shane showing up in London with his face beaten practically into ground beef, and she’d put a hand to her mouth when I revealed that our dad had been the culprit. I finished the story by telling her how confused I’d been since coming back and how effectively I’d put my foot in it this time. Thankfully, she let me talk without interjecting any opinions, which was something I loved about her. She was a top-notch listener.
“So now, I have no idea how to fix this,” I said, resting my chin in my hands. “I’m not even sure if I want to fix it. I’ve been thinking of texting the guy we met at the White Sands festival since he’s going to be in town.”
“Let me get this right,” Bree said, sucking on her spoon. “Spencer told you he loves you, and you returned the sentiment, and then, when you were reminded that you have an actual life here in LA and that you have shit to shovel, you decided to sabotage it on purpose? And now you want to go hook up with that man from White Sands? You know what you’re doing, right?”
